1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein pertains to devices for mounting flexible printing plates on press cylinders and particularly to mounting device support plates and methods.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Objectives of the Invention
Various printing plate mounting devices have been conceived and used in the past such as set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,925,506 and 4,705,590. These devices are useful in mounting previously prepared printing plates on press cylinders. A slideable support plate is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,506 whereby an adhesive tape is used to temporarily hold the printing plate onto the mounting device support plate while a transparent grid is utilized to insure correct alignment of the printing plate on the support. This method has proved useful but at times the grid can be misread or the printing plate can be moved from its desired position thus ultimately causing the printing plate to be incorrectly mounted on the press cylinder.
With the shortcomings and problems associated with prior art mounting devices and methods, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide an improvement in a plate mounting device and method by presenting a support plate having mounting studs thereon which cooperatively engage apertures within the printing plate for positive alignment.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for forming a printing plate having apertures for the aforementioned cooperative engagement.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a method of mounting a printing plate on a mounting device support plate to insure correct alignment and attachment to the printing press cylinder.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed presentation is set forth below.